


One Less Bell To Answer

by beyonceofmysticfalls



Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23728465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyonceofmysticfalls/pseuds/beyonceofmysticfalls
Summary: Bonnie deals with betrayal and heartbreaks, a story of self-love. One-Shot. Main Characters: Bonnie, Damon, Caroline, Elena & Klaus.
Relationships: Bonnie Bennett & Damon Salvatore, Bonnie Bennett & Klaus Mikaelson, Bonnie Bennett/Klaus Mikaelson
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	One Less Bell To Answer

Anxiety weighed on her like bricks tied to a balloon. Caterpillars climbed her veins and cocooned in her abdomen where they transformed into millions of tiny butterflies. Moisture left her mouth and pooled in the palms of her hands and at the crown of her head. An army of servants fanned at her face but to no avail. Bonnie Bennett was losing her shit.

"Calm down, sweetie. In a few hours, all of this will be over and you'll be the new Mrs. Salvatore. Just breathe through it," Bonnie's Maid of Honor, Caroline coached as she tried in vain to keep her best friend's face from melting. Bonnie took a small breath that choked her more than it helped her. As much as she berated herself to pull it together, her mind did not accept the command.

"Alright everyone, take your places! We will begin in five minutes." Her wedding planner, Tiara Gerard called out as she passed by with her clipboard. One by one, her wedding party began to fall in line and Tiara checked everyone off of the list. "Where is our Matron of Honor?!" Tiara frowned at the empty spot before her. "Elena?" She sighed. It was too late for a bathroom break, assuming that's where the airy brunette ran off to.

"Katherine! Where is your sister?!" Caroline's shrill voice caused everyone near her to wince. Katherine glanced around, looking for her twin sister, realizing now that the girl was nowhere to be found.

"She was just here a minute ago!" Katherine exclaimed. It was usually Katherine's duty to throw a wrench in the plans, not Elena. Elena was Miss Perfect and never did anything to upset the flow of things. For her to go AWOL minutes before they all walked down the aisle was unlike her. Caroline bolted for the door immediately searching frantically for the missing member of their party. Bonnie stood silently in her twenty-thousand dollar Vera Wang dress and fought tooth and nail against ruining her make up, but the tears had already threatened to flow. Her gut was never wrong and right now, her gut was screaming that something was definitely wrong. No matter the outcome, she was not walking down the aisle today.

"We have a bigger problem," Bonnie heard one of the church officials say. Bonnie scoffed at the man of the cloth as he entered the room. It was Damon's idea to have a big Catholic wedding, not hers. She preferred an outdoor venue but he suggested and she insisted. All for love.

"We can't find the groom," Bonnie heard him say. Instantly, every head in the room turned towards Bonnie. The millions of butterflies that resided in her belly rushed to the crown of her head where they took flight, fogging her mind and her vision.

"What," was all she could breathlessly mutter before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her body went limp. No. She definitely wasn't walking down anyone's aisle today.

-X-

"Just set it anywhere, I don't care," Bonnie muttered listlessly. Hours after her fainting spell, Bonnie awoke to find that she was no longer in the church but in her apartment. The tiny space was made even tinier as the wedding staff silently returned all of the decorations she purchased for her big day.

At the sight of her three-story wedding cake, Bonnie nearly barfed. This had to be some sick joke. "Throw that away." Everyone paused to look at her. The two men carrying the cake stopped in their tracks. "Or eat it, I don't care, just fucking get rid of it." Right now, she was supposed to be smashing cake in her husband's face. Oddly, she still wanted to do that except in a different context.

Anger drowned her in a sea of despair. The person she was truly mad at was missing in action and no one had yet to hear from him.

"Any word?" Bonnie's voice didn't sound like her own. She wasn't sure who she was asking or what she was even asking. Her lips moved of their own accord.

"None! This isn't like him! I don't know what happened, Bonnie! It's like he vanished." Bonnie scoffed as she stared at an insignificant spot on the floor. Earlier thoughts from that morning returned to her mind as the dots began to connect themselves. Tears rushed to her eyes and Bonnie wondered angrily why no one thought to tear this gaudy dress off of her by now.

"I still haven't found Elena! What the fuck?!" Caroline continued to frantically dial every number in her contacts. Bonnie could barely listen as Caroline fought to come to a conclusion that Bonnie drew the moment news broke.

"They're together," was all Bonnie could say before standing to her feet. Every voice in the room fell quiet as they all stared at the grieving bride silently. Bonnie grabbed an isolated bottle of Veuve Clicquot and popped the cork. Champagne spewed all over the train of her dress but she hardly cared. It was couture and unable to be returned.

"Honey," Caroline's voice dripped in sorrow as she stared at her best friend hopelessly. She couldn't bring herself to mutter the words 'we don't know that' because they did know. Everyone had already suspected what Bonnie confirmed but no one had the gall to admit it.

Leave it to Bonnie Bennett.

"I'm thankful they didn't wait until after I signed my life over," Bonnie replied sarcastically before walking off to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She didn't care that her train got caught in the door and she allowed it to rip as she fell on her bed and began to drink.

That night, the sea of despair roared violently in her ears.

-X-

Two years later and still no word. Her lover was Houdini, she found out. Damon Salvatore was a man with a plan and any time he drafted a blueprint, he saw the project to the end no matter what. It was true for the construction of buildings and the demolition of dreams. He sought to ruin her the moment he walked into her life and all over her heart in his custom made red bottom loafers. She always wondered how New York's crème de la crème found her. She was virtually nobody; just a small time investment banker for a small firm in the city. She worked to eat which was all anyone truly did and while she enjoyed nice things, she never had the mind to splurge. That is until she met Damon.

In typical male fashion, he wined and dined her. His arrogance which typically turned her off attracted her in such a way that she instantly found herself trapped in his web. He never gave any reason for her to mistrust him. They met, fell in love, and were engaged in just one short year. The second year of their relationship was spent planning 'the wedding of the century'. At least that's what Damon called it.

What burned her up the most was how extravagant he wanted everything. Often, their styles clashed. Bonnie wanted simplicity while Damon was as lavish as they came. And for what? To leave her standing amid everything she didn't want, all in the name of his massive ego.

She should have known. He was brutal at best when it came to business deals and downright gruesome at worst. Her grams always warned her that the way a man handles business was often how he handled his love life.

If only Sheila was alive to see how that statement came back and took a chunk out of her ass.

The first year, Bonnie scoured the internet looking for any signs of her lover and her best friend. Nothing. No traces. Bonnie became obsessed to find the truth. It was better than dealing with the heartbreak. She even took to hiring a private investigator but yielded no results. Damon didn't want to be found and therefore he wouldn't be.

She did find small clues. Like how he sold the shares to his architect firm and cashed in his retirement fund and vanished from the country. He planned it but the question that ate at her was for how long?

How long was she in the relationship by herself?

How long before he returned the old book to the library and checked out a new one?

How fucking long?

Bonnie couldn't figure it out. The second year was spent replaying every conversation they ever had on a loop. She obsessed over the details of their relationship until she could only conclude that the moment their relationship ended was the moment she introduced Damon to her best friend, Elena. They were eight months into their relationship when the two devils met one another.

Perhaps what hurts the most was the number of lives ruined by two people. Promptly after meeting Damon, Elena fell for his brother Stefan and the two were also betrothed to get married. It seems that she wasn't the only one left at the altar, so was Stefan. Stefan Salvatore was undoubtedly the nicest soul you'd ever meet and the least deserving of what happened.

But Stefan moved on and ultimately found love again, with Caroline. In the end, it worked out for him. Meanwhile, back at the horse ranch, Bonnie still struggled with scrubbing manure off the shattered remains of her heart.

It was a complete waste of her time, falling in love. She never believed in it and thought that the fairy tales ended once the film strip ran out. Damon made her believe again. He forced her to open herself up to care about him and then he vanished.

Each time she thought about it, she wanted to harm herself and someone else in the process.

Bitterness began to take root. Anything was better than the pain. The pain was crippling. Like a debilitating disease that affected every cell in your body. It was cancerous and spread like wildfire. Her black heart matched her black skin. Her self-esteem suffered. Everything suffered. Her plants even died; the result of too much dark energy surrounding them. Her world, once vibrant with color, grayed. Her eyes had even taken on a darker shade of green. They too matched her black skin.

Food had no taste, music had no sound, the noisy city grew silent. Bonnie Bennett slipped into a sunken place and had no desire of ever climbing out of it.

The muscles in her face could no longer support its wide smile. Her skin that glowed was now gray. All because of one fucking man and one person she called a friend. She no longer spoke to Katherine, who bore the traitorous bitch's face. Ironically, Katherine was always considered the evil twin. Ha! She could barely speak to Caroline. Each mention of Stefan brought about painful memories of his insidious brother. Her life was consumed by the raging sea of despair.

The third year she wondered how long the pain would last.

-X-

Five years later, she was strong enough to attend her best friend's wedding. It had taken Stefan five years to finally allow himself to be happy and Bonnie sometimes wondered in vain if they waited five years for her to be okay with the idea of a wedding too.

The sting would never go away but Bonnie has learned to live with it.

Three years of healing and Bonnie is slowly beginning to see color again. Whoever coined the phrase 'God's green earth,' must have stared into Bonnie's eyes as a baby. Its color returned, mostly. There was still a great deal of pain and sadness lingering in them but she was on the mend. The real test was yet to come. Bad relationships weren't the hardest; it's the first healthy one you experience after a failed one that was the real test. Toxicity ran rampant in the dating world and if you weren't careful you ended up spreading it like a god-awful virus.

It was Bonnie's turn to be the maid of honor. Years ago, she dreamed that on Caroline's day, the term 'maid' would be 'matron', but years ago she also dreamed of marrying the love of her life.

Dreams change.

The photographer walks into the room and snaps pictures of Bonnie and Caroline. The two women barely notice him as they share a moment of genuine happiness. Bonnie stares up at Caroline in awe, happy that one of them gets to experience their version of a fairy tale and she is thankful that her sea of despair didn't steal the joy she had for her friend. Ever protective, Bonnie leans in to kiss Caroline's cheeks. She promised she wouldn't get emotional but the joy she felt for her friend was a joy she thought she'd never experience again.

While Bonnie watched Caroline, the photographer watched her, immortalizing a beautiful moment between friends. The sadness that lingered in Bonnie's eyes lifted and for a moment, God's green earth shined bright like all the diamonds in the world.

-X-

"How much do I owe you for these?" It is at the wedding reception that Bonnie witnesses the joy captured by the photographer. She can barely believe the woman in the photos is she. The moment she and Caroline shared was spontaneous but genuine. The photos were breathtaking and worthy of more money than she had to offer. She looks up and finally notices the photographer. His suit was simple but he wore it well. His sandy blonde hair fought against being tamed and Bonnie could tell that his curls weren't used to being told what to do. He smiles warmly at her and Bonnie notices his dimples immediately. They're cute, giving his angular face a boyish charm that almost didn't fit. His blue eyes weren't menacing at all and reminded her of the sea at rest. She's known blue eyes before, but those eyes reminded her of the sea of despair she spent years drowning in.

No, this sea was calm. Island calm.

"These are on the house, Love." His accent is soothing and Bonnie wondered momentarily which European region he hailed from. "Art is meant to be shared, not negotiated," Bonnie smiled as a thought surfaced.

"If you don't negotiate some of your art, you'll eventually grow hungry," she stated, making light of the 'starving artist' trope. The photographer smiles, not at all offended by the cheap shot she took. He was used to it. No one respects an artist, at least not while they lived.

"Not everyone work to eat, Love. I work to live." Bonnie glances up at this strange photographer with a twinkle in her eyes. He watches her intently and she wonders for a moment if he is looking at her or her soul. She suddenly feels exposed.

"What's the difference," she tested. Though she had an idea of what he'd say.

"We eat to survive or we live to thrive," he countered smoothly. "The choice is yours."

"What if we don't get to choose," she asks. The photographer smiles and shakes his head lightly.

"There's always a choice, Love," he tells her before taking a step back to bow before her. "Have a wonderful evening."

Bonnie watches him walk away and shook off the encounter. He was probably all talk. As much shit as everyone talked, eventually they all caved to the pressures of capitalism. The romantic way of life only existed in fairy tales—and parts of Europe.

Later that night, before she saw her friend off for her much-anticipated honeymoon, she asks Caroline a question that nagged at her all evening.

"How much did your photographer charge?" It was the most random question, but Caroline didn't miss a beat.

"Niklaus?" So that was his name. "Funny you ask, he didn't. He told me to pay whatever I was comfortable with and wouldn't accept a dime before the job was complete." Her answer was not what Bonnie expected. Wedding photographers were known to be 'vultures'. "Why do you ask?" Caroline wanted to know.

"No reason," Bonnie says, looking down at the photos he'd given her. She still couldn't believe how amazing they turned out to be. "He just seems like a nice businessman." Caroline smiles knowingly at Bonnie.

"The best in his field."

**Author's Note:**

> Hi All! I'm not sure where this came from but here you go! I hope you enjoy. As always, I'd like for it to be a full fic but I have no clue how I'd develop it. That said, it's just a one shot for now. I named this after one of my favorite songs by The 5th Dimension so give it a listen if you'd like. :) If you're reading any of my other works, I'm still working on them, I promise. Let me know what you think about it in the comments and as always, stay safe out there and thanks for reading!


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